Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Transit Vans

The Ford Transit van is one of the most successful vehicles ever sold. In fact, it’s one of those brands where the name “Transit” has evolved to mean any work van of a similar size and shape.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Transit Vans

Transit Vans

It’s been the best-selling van in the UK for over 40 years, so here’s everything you ever needed to know about the nation’s favorite works van.

A Brief History of Transits

Ford first introduced the Transit in 1965 as a cargo van. In the years since its introduction, there have been over 8 million Transit Vans sold. There have been several redesigns of the model through the decades, with the most recent design of Transit introduced in 2013. So many Transit vans have been sold worldwide that if you lined them up nose to tail, they’d circle the globe. When introduced in the 60s, the transit van cost £542. In 2019, the price starts at just over £20,000 depending on the specification.

So What’s So Great About the Transit?

Part of the reason for the success of the Ford Transit is that most of us can get behind the wheel without needing to take an additional test to drive it. If you passed your driving test before 1st January 1997, you can drive any van or truck of a weight up to 7,500kg. People who passed their tests after that date are limited to vans under 3,500kg. As the weight of the Transit is 2,900kg, anyone can get in a Transit and start driving right away. It’s, therefore, the van of choice for companies who hire delivery drivers, or just for people who want to move a lot of stuff quickly. Ford was the first company to spot this gap in the market for a work vehicle which would be available to all license holders, and although many other companies have got in on the act since, the Ford Transit is still the default choice for many business owners.

Advantages to Businesses of Getting a Transit

Apart from the benefit of the Transit being suitable for anyone with a driving license, there are many other benefits for companies thinking about investing in a Transit rather than in other types of vans. For a start, Ford is one of the most widely sold brands in the UK and should your Transit go wrong, you won’t need to find a specialist mechanic to do the service or to book the van in for servicing or the annual MOT test. Replacement parts are widely available and generic parts can be used as well as manufacturer parts. Part of the reason why the Transit has prevailed for over 50 years in the UK market is its reliability, a factor which is key for all businesses, whether small or large.

A Bit of Transit Trivia

It’s not just the UK’s business workhorse, the Transit has a bit of a reputation with the Police too – Scotland Yard once said that it was the getaway van of choice for bank robbers. One driver in the Czech Republic found that his Transit was so reliable that the clock managed to reach 999,999 and went no further. He complained to Ford, which gave him a brand-new van as compensation and in recognition of the great publicity the story generated. Transits have appeared in the movies too but perhaps not in ways you’d recognize. The iconic Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was built on a Transit chassis, and Michael Caine drove a Transit in the Fourth Protocol. So if you’re looking for a reliable van for business or pleasure, why not the Transit?